PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon and Washington lawmakers are condemning President Donald Trump’s racist attacks on Democratic congresswomen as the president’s ratcheted up his comments at a White House event on Monday, including saying he wasn’t concerned by white nationalists embracing his rhetoric.
While at an event showcasing “Made in America” products, Trump responded to reporters who shouted questions about his Sunday tweets that seemed to target Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib after he wrote the freshmen congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
In addition to being wrong — three of the congresswomen were born in the United States, and all four are American citizens — the president’s tweets were quickly condemned by Democrats, including those in Washington and Oregon, for being racist. Republican lawmakers also started to condemn Trump’s remarks on Monday after a reporter asked if he was concerned with white nationalists “finding common cause with” him.
“It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me,” Trump responded, CBS News reported. “And all I’m saying, they want to leave, they can leave.”
Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, Ron Wyden, sent out a harsh tweet Monday morning condemning Trump’s words.
“Donald Trump regularly takes the office of the presidency lower and lower,” he tweeted. “But even by his ‘standards,’ there has been nothing more demeaning or beneath the dignity of the office than his statements over the past few days.”
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration, tweeted multiple rebukes of Trump since Sunday.
“Racist doubles down on racism,” the 2020 hopeful said in response to a tweet quoting Trump on Monday accusing Omar of “speaking about how wonderful Al Qaeda is” and how the freshman congresswoman “hates Jews.”
Rep. Suzanne Bonamici also castigated the president over his comments.
“President Trump made racist statements about my colleagues and now he’s asking them to apologize? These Congresswomen are US citizens who were duly elected to Congress by their constituents. The President’s offensive rhetoric must not be tolerated,” the Democrat, who represents Oregon’s 1st District, tweeted.
Democrat Rep. Kurt Schrader called Trump’s tweets about the freshmen congresswomen “racist … totally offensive and extremely unacceptable.”
Oregon’s lone Republican representative, Greg Walden, has not issued a statement on Trump’s comments; however, the congressman was at the “Made in America Day” event at the White House and included a photo of Vice President Mike Pence holding a Willamette Valley Vineyards hat.
